Pre-cast concrete wall systems are known in the art, as can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,494,004, issued to Melvin Zimmerman on Dec. 17, 2002. Such pre-cast concrete walls are typically used as basement walls for building structures, for example, houses and commercial buildings. Such walls are manufactured in a production plant by assembling non-concrete components into a form and pouring concrete into the form to encapsulate the non-concrete components. Once the concrete has hardened, the manufactured wall is stripped away from the form and the wall panel is transported to the job site for installation. Typically, a plurality of wall panels is assembled on the job site to form a basement structure of the building to be constructed thereon.
The formation of the pre-cast concrete walls at the production plant requires a form that is typically constructed of steel to support the non-concrete components, such as reinforcement rods, insulation panels, wall studs, etc., and the concrete that is poured into the form to create the pre-cast wall panels. Once the concrete is hardened, the wall can be stripped away. The form is then re-used for subsequent pre-cast wall panel production and the process repeated. An example of the forms for creating pre-cast concrete wall panels can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,194, granted on Aug. 12, 1997, to Melvin M. Zimmerman.
Some forms for the production of concrete wall panels are constructed with a laterally movable side member that can be selectively positioned to adjust the overall width of the pre-cast concrete wall panel to be formed. This movable side member, as well as the remainder of the form, is supported by a steel beam that provides the basic framework for the support of the form at a location above the floor of the production plant to facilitate the use of the form in the manufacture of the pre-cast concrete wall panels. The steel beam frame members are supported above the production plant floor by support legs that are typically welded onto the steel beam frame members. With a fixed form, i.e. one that does not have a movable side member, the form is not typically moved from one location to another within the production plant and fixed length legs are usually sufficient to support the form at the elevated location above the floor in a planar configuration.
The utilization of a laterally movable side member, however, adds some complexity in the stabilization of the forms, as well as maintaining a planar configuration so that the pre-cast concrete walls manufactured therefrom are constructed in a planar shape for proper assembly at the job site. Production plant floors are typically uneven. Thus, when the laterally movable side member is re-positioned to create a pre-cast wall panel that has a different width than the previous one constructed from the form, a fixed length support leg may not provide the proper support of the movable steel beam frame to maintain a planar configuration of the pre-cast wall to be constructed. Thus, when the movable side member is re-positioned, shimming the support leg to maintain proper positioning of the movable side member results in lost production time.
Support legs can also be deformed or bent during the manufacturing process, such as when impacted by machinery used to move the hardend pre-cast concrete wall panels. Since the proper positioning of the form, including the steel beam frame members, is necessary for the manufacture of the pre-cast concrete wall panels, these support legs, which are typically welded onto the steel beam frame members, need to be cut off and a new support leg installed at the correct length or height to maintain the proper configuration of the form.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a support leg structure for a form used in the production of pre-cast concrete wall panels that would facilitate rapid deployment and replacement when the support legs need to be adjusted or replaced.